The LONG Drabbling of a Bored Blogger :)

*NOTE: Not to be marked! I just posted this for fun and, for the record, I WILL write another blog next week for grading! Yea, this was just something I made up a couple of years ago, and it was supposed to be the beginning of something bigger...but i avoided it for a long time, so it never got anywhere. Anyway, enjoy! Maybe i'll seriously work on it later on during Christmas Break :)


Snow was steadily falling off the sky. Fifteen-year old Troy was sitting down beside the fireplace for warmth. His auburn hair was darker than usual and his shadow was dancing on the walls. Usually, during the cold Canadian winter, it seemed as if the mountains were more dangerous and mighty. The trees rustled its leaves violently from the whistling winds of the North. The windows rattled from the blizzard outside.

Troy stood up, stretched, and then circled around the living room to admire its old history and what it concealed in mystery. The room was decorated in joyful colours of green and red; a Christmas tree stood smugly in the centre. Mounds of gifts were underneath its stand. Troy sighed contently and slumped backward abruptly in his grandfather’s old armchair and let himself drift in and off of sleep. This pattern of habit continued for several more minutes until he heard someone calling his name from afar.

“Troy, where are you?” A female voice rang from the upstairs bedroom, and interrupted his dreamy slumber. Troy heard thudding footsteps coming toward him and felt a gentle shake on his shoulder indicating that he should wake up.

Troy opened his sleepy eyes, stood up and stretched his arms once more toward the ceiling. He looked at Liane, his best friend who came with her family to spend the Christmas vacation with him. She was wearing her favourite white sweater and creamy snow pants that contrasted greatly the warm colours that were reflected in the living room. He thought that she looked more like a snow-woman.

Liane’s hair was cut up to her shoulders that summer and she decided obstinately to keep it that way for the rest of her life. She was also thinking of getting it highlighted this winter if she can convince her parents, but so far, it hadn’t worked. Troy would always roll his eyes at her persistent pestering when she wanted something done and would always stalk off in frustration in finding that her tactics worked every time. He smiled, though, at knowing that her parents weren’t caving into her demands this time.

“Get rid of your sweater, Lee. It’s hot as it is inside this cabin,” He remarked grudgingly.

Liane shrugged and took it off, revealing a long sleeved turtleneck that was decorated with beads. She then smiled and twirled about the room and sat beneath the Christmas tree, toying with an ornament as light danced in her eyes. Troy sighed and stood up, and was about to walk into the kitchen for a glass of water when Liane turned around and caught his attention.

“Hey, why don’t we go searching in the attic? I’m tired of sitting around in front of the window upstairs counting snowflakes. I’ve reached to 200 and I feel like sleeping now,” She said, exasperated by the fact that she was bored.

“You were WHAT? Counting the…Do you need to lie down or something?” Troy raised his eyebrows. He knew that Liane was notorious for her quirky personality but most of the time he wished that she tuned her enthusiasm down a notch. He had gotten into too much trouble from before thanks to his wacko buddy.

“No, I don’t, so don’t try to act like a babysitter, Troy! Anyway, do you realize now just how bored I am? I just have to explore, I have to move around! This cabin belonged to your great- grand parents, right? Since they’re dead and all, why can’t we just snoop around a bit? Otherwise, we’re in for another dull Christmas.” She rushed to the stairs before Troy could object to her plan. He sighed and followed her. He might as well stare at the windows in the attic than gag while watching his twin sister flirt with Liane’s brothers in the kitchen.

The cabin had two floors, excluding the attic which had a built-in trap door that was inserted in the ceiling. It was built over a century ago, and it made creaks and groans during the night. It was made entirely out of wood except for the fairly recent restoration of the four bedrooms on the second floor. The cabin kept many secrets that were hidden during all its years in this region. Both Liane and Troy knew this, but they've never really gone through the trouble of trying to figure it out. It had been five years since they visited this old mansion and they felt that it was childish to play hide and seek during a winter’s day like they would have done many years ago. Troy never thought of exploring in the attic. The idea always seemed absurd and beyond what he knew he may do.

That is, until Liane came.

“You sure you want to go up there? I mean there could be spiders and dead animals and probably a couple of ghosts-“

“Troy, you better shut that big mouth of yours before I give you another black eye.” Liane threatened with her fist. Troy remained in silence after he received the threat, knowing her potential to cripple a grown man through her ten year experience with judo.

Liane and Troy walked quietly up the stairs and into the hallway. Troy saw a piece of string hanging down from the ceiling and pulled on it. Liane helped him and another staircase was lowered. The two friends walked into the attic, cautious to make no noise left they disturb their parents. As they did, they were hit with mounds of tumbling dust and an odious odour that reached up their noses and into their mouths as they tried to breathe. Liane started to cough violently.

“Oh man, it’s like a wave of smoke just toppled over us!” Liane coughed some more as she stepped even deeper into attic. She nearly tripped over a small box in front of her.

“No really?” Troy lifted the staircase from the top and snapped it shut.

Troy looked around at the room that he was in and sighed. It was filled with the usual amounts of trunks, boxes and absolute darkness. Liane wandered to the corners of the attic, feeling the wood while walking. Troy was inspecting the odd things he kept bumping into. First it was a sort of mannequin draped in white cloth, which he thought was a ghost. Then, a chest that he tripped over while walking (and the one that he had subsequently found empty). Finally, he bumped into Liane.

“Watch where you’re going, Troy, you maniac!’ She whispered to him savagely.

“Sorry, but you have big feet! Man, I should have brought a flashlight or something,” Troy said regretfully. He looked at Liane as she scoured around for antiques. Apparently, she didn’t listen.

He saw her shadows casting on the wooden walls from the dim light coming from the window. Finally, he saw her hand reaching out for a wood panel. He groaned and knew that any second, she’d come screaming-

“Troy! TROY! I’ve found something!” She shouted.

He sighed and walked over to her. He peered at her face but could only receive a vague outline of her figure, “What is it now?”

“Troy, I think the walls are hollow! I was tapping along the panels to the rhythm of a song that’s stuck in my head and this part of the room sound empty! Listen! ’ Liane said with excitement. She began to tap the wood slowly, as if to let the sound echo throughout the room. Troy peered at his friend and shook his head slowly.

“I don’t hear anything.”

“What? How can you not realize that the wall’s hollow? Listen again!” Liane knocked on the wall softly, and watched as Troy raised his eyebrows. He placed his hands on his hips and stared at the wooden panel. He noticed that several scarps of paper were sticking out of the wall.

“I heard it, Lee. But I don’t think that it’s really hollow. There may not be any secret compartment inside, like I knew you expected. It may just as well be missing insulation,” Troy shook his head once again, and was about to explore another section of the room when Liane tugged at his shirt which signalled that she wasn’t about to give up her audience so easily.

“Then how do you explain the papers on the walls? There has to be something behind it! Look, Troy, the papers looked as if they have words written on them!” Liane stood tall and waited to be presented with an argument.

Troy shook his head and felt the loose papers with his fingers, “I don’t think we should touch it. It looked as if whoever put it there wanted to keep it a secret. Well, let’s honour that wish and leave it alone.”

“Troy, I know that they’re only papers, but I have a feeling that it’s more than that. C’mon, let’s just pry the wood open because I’m going to regret it if I don’t!”

“Yeah, I could save you a whole lot of trouble right now by telling you that it’s nothing, all right! You’re fooling yourself again. We’re going to get into trouble with our parents and we might never come back for vacation! Think of the consequences if we mess this up!”

“Troy, I know I’m pretty drastic-“

“Not to mention impetuous,” He interrupted her graciously while folding his arms against his chest, his eyebrows raised in curiosity.

“But this can start us off in wild adventure! I can just feel it in my bones! Even you agreed that this Christmas vacation is going to be so boring! Didn’t I hear you complaining this morning about wanting to do something exciting?” Liane’s eyes shone and her enthusiasm made her vibrant and eager more than anything.

‘Adventure’, Troy thought slowly as he tried to analyze the situation, 'is the exact thing that I don’t need right now! Then again, this might be our ticket out of our usual, non-eventful Christmas…’ Troy eyed her carefully and scratched his chin as he always did when he tried to think of a decision.

“C’mon, Troy! I’m just dying to see what’s inside these panels!”

“Well, my parents did say that they want to renovate the attic in the summer. I guess they won’t mind some missing insulation.” He shrugged and reluctantly relented to his friend’s puppyish pouts.

“’Kay then, let’s start taking off some of the loose boards around it.”

“Wait a minute, Lee. I didn’t mean that we can start now. It’s ten at night and our parents, not to mention my snooping sister and your annoying college brothers, are all in the kitchen, and they can hear us if we do anything desperate. Let’s do it in the morning when they’re outside skiing or something. Besides, we’ll have time to grab some tools tomorrow when we’re all awake and thinking properly.”

“Troy, are you implying that I’m not ‘thinking properly’ at the moment? If you think I’m going to change my mind after tomorrow, you’re seriously wrong!” Her eyes started to swell and widen. Her fists were at her side, but Troy quickly avoided an unnecessary bruise.

“I didn’t mean that. I mean we would all be fresh and ready to take on this project after we get a good night’s rest. Now, come on. I’m going to get some hot chocolate before bed, how about it?” Troy waved his hand invitingly, but when Liane shook her head, he shrugged, and soon his head disappeared beneath the staircases.

Liane stood frozen for a few minutes, and after making sure that Troy was gone, took out a slip of paper from her jean pocket. She studied it carefully and then slowly smiled with growing determination. Exhilaration flowed through her veins and her heart pounded against her chest. Everything would go according to plan! It just had to!